Occasional sounds.-The Italian sound is indicated by two dots over it; as, bär, fä'ther;-the short sound of the Italian a, by a single dot over it; as, fast, last; -the broad sound, by two dots below it; as, ball, stall; the short sound of broad a, by a single dot under it; as, what, quad'rant ;-the sound of a before r in certain words like care, fair, &c., is represented by a sharp or pointed circumflex over the a, as, câre, hâir, fair, &c.

E. The regular long sound of e is indicated by, a horizontal mark over it; as, mēte, se-rene'; the regular short sound, by a curve over it; as, mět, re-běl'.

Occasional sounds.-The sound of e like a in care is indicated by a pointed circumflex over the e, as in their, where; and of short e before r in cases where it verges toward short u, by a rounded circumflex, or wavy line, over it; as, her, pre-fer'.

I, O, U. The regular long and short sounds of i, o, and are indicated like those of a and e by a horizontal mark or a curve; as, bind, bin; dole, doll; tune, tun.

Occasional sounds.-When i has the sound of long e it is marked by two dots over it; as, fa-tigue', marine';-when o has the sound of short u, it is marked by a single dot over it; as, dove, son;-when it has the sound of oo, it is marked with two dots under it; as, move, prove-when it has the sound of 90, it is marked with a single dot under it; as, wolf, wolsey;when it has the sound of broad a, this is indicated by a pointed circumflex over the vowel; as, nôrth, sôrt; the two letters oo, with a horizontal mark over them, have the sound heard in the words boom, loom ;-with a curve mark, they have a shorter form of the same sound; as, book, good;-when u is sounded like short 00, it has a single dot under it; as, full, pull; while its lengthened sound, as when preceded by r, is indicated by two dots; as in rude, rural, rubʼy.

NOTE.---The long u in unaccented syllables has, to a great extent, the sound of short oo, preceded by y, as in educate, pronounced ěd'yoo-kāte; nature, pronounced nat'yoor.

The long sound of a in late, when shortened, coincides nearly with that of e in let; as, adequate, disconsolate, inveterate.

The long when shortened, coincides nearly with the short i in pit; as, in feet, fit. This short sound of i is that of y unaccented, at the end of words; as, in glory.

The short sound of broad a in hall, is that of the short o in holly, and of a in what.

The short sound of oo in pool, is that of u in pull, and oo in wool.

The short sound of o in not, is somewhat lengthened before 8, th, and ng; as in cross, broth, belong.

A combination of two letters used to express a single sound is called a digraph; as, ea in head, or th in bath.

The pronunciation of the diphthongs oi and oy is the same and uniform; as, in join, joy.

The pronunciation of the diphthongs ou and ow is the same and uniform; as, in sound, now. But in the termination ous, ou is not a diphthong, and the pronunciation is us; as, in pious, glorious.

The digraphs ai and ay, in words of one syllable, and in accented syllables, have the sound of a long. In the unaccented syllables of a few words, the sound of a is nearly or quite lost; as, in certain, curtain. The digraphs au and aw, have the sound of broad a, as in fall; ew, that of u long, as in new; and ey in unaccented syllables, that of y short, as in valley.

When one vowel of a digraph is marked, the other has sound; as, in court, rõad, slōw.

The digraphs ea, ee, ei, ie, when not marked, have, in this work, the sound of e long; as, in near, meet, seize, grieve. The vowels in Section 143 are exceptions.

The digraph oa, unless marked, has the sound of o long, Vowels, in words of one syllable, followed by a single con sonant and e final, are long; as, in fate, mete, mite, note, mute. unless marked, as in dove, give.

The articulations or sounds represented by the consonants are best apprehended by placing a vowel before them in pronunciation, and prolonging the second of the two elements; thus, eb, ed, ef, eg, ek, el, em, en, ep, er, es, et, ev, ez.

Those articulations which wholly stop the passage of the breath from the mouth, are called close, or mute, as b, d, g, k, P, t.

Those articulations which are formed either wholly or in part by the lips, are called labials; as, b, f, m, p, v.

Those which are formed by the tip of the tongue and the teeth, or the gum covering the roots of the teeth, are called dentals; as, d, t, th, (as in thin, this).

Those which are formed by the flat surface of the tongue and the palate, are called palatals; as, g, k, ng, sh.

The letters 8 and 2 are called also sibilants, or hissing letters.

W (as in we) and y (as in ye) are sometimes called semi-vowels, as being intermediate between vowels and consonants, or partaking of the nature of both.

B and p represent one and the same articulation, or jointing of the lips; but p differs from 6 in being an utterance of the breath instead of the voice.

D and t stand for one and the same articulation, which is a pressure of the tongue against the gum at the root of the upper front teeth; but t stands for a whispered, and d for a spoken

sound.

Fand v stand for one and the same articulation, the upper teeth placed on the under lip; but findicates an expulsion of voiceless breath; v, of vocalized breath, or tone.

Th in thin and in this represent one and the same articulation; the former with breath; the latter with voice.

S and z stand for one and the same articulation; s being a hissing or whispered sound, and ≈ a buzzing or vocal sound. Sh and zh have the same distinction as 8 and 2, whispered and vocal; but zh not occurring in English words, the sound is represented by si or by other letters; as, in fusion, osier, azure. Ng represent the articulation of the body of the tongue with the roof of the mouth, and indicate a nasal sound, which is much shortened, if followed by the sound of k in the same syllable; as in bank.

B has one sound only, as in bite. After m, or before t, it is generally mute; as in dumb, doubt.

C has the sound of k before a, o, and u, as in cat, cot, cup; and of 8 before e, i, and y, as in cell, cit, cycle. It may be considered as mute before ; as, in sick, thick. C, when followed by e or i before another vowel, unites with e ori to form the sound of sh. Thus, cetaceous, gracious, conscience, are pronounced ce-ta'shus, gra'shus, con'shense.

D has its proper sound, as in day, bid; when followed in the same syllable by a whispered or voiceless consonant, it uniformly takes the sound of t, as in hissed (hist).

F has one sound only; as, in life, fever, except in of, in which it has the sound of v.

G before a, o, and u, is a close palatal articulation; as, in gave, go, gun, before e, i, and y, it sometimes represents the same articulation, but generally indicates a compound sound, like that of j; as in gem, gin, gyves. Before n in the same syl

lable it is silent; as, in gnaw.

H is a mark of mere breathing or aspiration. no sound; as, in rhetoric.

After r it has

I in certain words has the use of y consonant; as, in million, pronounced mill'yun. Before r it has a sound nearly resembling that of short u, but more open; as, in bird, flirt.

J represents a compound sound, pretty nearly equivalent to that represented by dzh; as, in joy.

K has one sound only; as, in king. It is silent before n in in the same syllable; as, in knave.

L has one sound only; as, in lame, mill. It is silent in many words, especially before a final consonant; as, in walk, calm, calf, should.

M has one sound only; as, in man, flame. It is silent before in the same syllable; as, in mnemonics. N has one sound only; as, in not, sun. and m; as, in kiln, hymn, solemn.

It is silent after 7

P has one sound only; as, in pit, lap. At the beginning of words, it is silent before n, s, and t; as, in pneumatics, psalm, pshaw, ptarmigan.

Q has precisely the power of h, but it is always followed by u, and these two letters are generally sounded like wo; as, in question.

R is sounded as in rip, trip, form, carol, mire.

S has its proper sound, as in send, less; or the sound of 2, as in rise. Followed by i preceding a vowel, it unites with the vowel in forming the sound of sh; as in mission, pronounced mish'un ;-or of its vocal correspondent ah; as in osier, pronounced o'zher. When it has the latter sound, it is indicated in this book by a peculiar mark under it; thus, s.

T has its proper sound, as in turn, at the beginning of words and at the end of syllables. Before i, followed by another Ivowel, it unites with i to form the sound of sh, as in nation, partial, patience, pronounced na shon, par'shal, pa'shense. But when s or aprecedes t, this letter and the following it preserve their own sounds; as in bastion, christian, mixtion, pronounced bust'yun, krist'yan, mikst'yun. T is silent in the terminations ten and tle after s; as in fusten, often, gristle.

V has one sound only; as, in voice, live, and is never silent. W before r in the same syllable is silent, as in wring, wrong. In most words beginning with wh, the h precedes the win utterance; thus when is pronounced hwen. But if o follows this combination, the w is silent, as in whole, pronounced hole.

X represents ks, as in wax; but it is sometimes pronounced like ge; as, in exact. At the beginning of words, it is pro-nounced like ; as, in Xenophon.

Z has its proper sound, which is that of the vocal 8; as, in

maze.

Ch have very nearly the sound of tsh; as, in church: or the sound of k; as, in character: or of sh, as in machine.

Gh are mute in every English word, both in the middle and at the end of words, except in the following: cough, chough, clough, enough, laugh, rough, slough, tough, trough, in which they have the sound of f; hough, lough, shough, in which they have the sound of k, and hiccough, in which they have the sound of At the beginning of a word, they are pronounced like g hard; as in ghastly, ghost, gherkin, &c.; so that they may be

p.

said not to have a proper or regular sound in any English word.

Ph have the sound off, as in philosophy; except in Stephen, pronounced Ste'vn.

Sh have one sound only; as, in shall.

Th have two sounds; whispered, as in think, both; and vocal, as in thou, his. When vocal, the th are marked thus, (th), as in thou.

Se have the sound of sk, before a, o, u, and r; as, in scale, scoff, sculpture, scroll; and the sound of s alone before e, i, and y; as, in scene, scepter, science, Scythian.

OF ACCENT, EMPHASIS, AND CADENCE.

Accent is a forcible stress or effort of voice on a letter or syllable, distinguishing it from others in the same word, by a greater distinctness and loudness of pronunciation.

The accented syllable of words is designated by the mark ("). The general principle by which accent is regulated, is, that the stress of voice falls on that syllablé of a word, which renders the articulations most easy to the speaker, and most agreeable to the hearer. By this rule has the accent of most words been imperceptibly established by a long and universal consent. When a word consists of three or more syllables, the ease of speaking requires usually a secondary accent, of less forcible utterance than the primary, but clearly distinguishable from the pronunciation of unaccented syllables; as in superfluity, literary.

In many compound words, the parts of which are important words of themselves, there is very little distinction of accent, as, ink-stand, church-yard.

Emphasis is a particular force of utterance given to a particular word in a sentence, on account of its importance.

Cadence is a fall or modulation of the voice in reading or speaking, especially at the end of a sentence.

KEY TO THE PRONUNCIATION.

VOWELS.

REGULAR LONG AND SHORT SOUNDS

LONG.-a, as in fame; ē, as in mete; ī, as in fine; ō, as in note, ū, as in mute; y, as in fly.

SHORT.-ă, as in fat; e, as in met; I, as in fin; o, as in not; ŭ, as in but; y, as in nymph.

See over